Self-study
Hi all,
I've been fortunate enough to be consistently scoring in the 160s, with my highest PT score to date being 168! I, like many people, want to break into the 170s, but I've reached a plateau I haven't seen improve. Additionally, when I review my PTs, I notice that 99% of my wrong answers were due to me constantly changing from the right to the wrong answer due to anxiousness about "being wrong" (ironic).
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to better establish the necessary confidence when it comes to (1) picking answer choices and (2) my understanding of the different question types?
Thank you!
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11 comments
Make sure you have a way to "test" answer choices. Remember when you took algebra? You might solve for X and get X = 5. Ideally then you plug it back in - drop 5 back in for X in the original equation and make sure it works. Same thing here. For NA that's doing the negation test. For weaken that's going back to the evidence, then saying "but" the a/c, and making sure you say "yep, now I'm questioning the conclusion." etc etc. Also think about scope, whether you want strong or weak language, etc. Most of the questions really only have 2 (at most) even plausible answer choices when you take strength and scope into account, which can be done really quickly.
@julielamberth Thank you for this! The algebra analogy makes soooooo much sense !!!!!!
Here's my holy grail into really feeling confident in my answers for both LR and RC.
LC: Doing these steps in order will fade the wrong answers out so quick I promise
Understand + engage with every sentence (Put it into your own words/how it makes sense for you)
Destroy the argument (Break down the argument to its smallest portions)
Predict the answer
RC: Reading actively will help you understand the argument better. My tip: If you can explain it to a non-LSAT taker you're on the right track.
Actively read the passage (similar to reading a good book)
Ask the authors opinion after paragraphs (how do they stand on an issue)
Summarize the main point of the passage
Hope this helps :)
@sewhetstone Thank you for this! I noticed I could usually parse the author's opinion and main point in RC, but would struggle with most strongly supported and infer questions, but I do admit I didn't read as actively as necessary haha.
I tell my students to try, as much as possible, to speak in "because" statements. Train yourself to say "This is the answer because..." especially during the review process. This will reveal to you the hidden areas left to improve. There are almost certainly questions that you get right, but you still have some doubts about the right answers, and if faced with a question in the future that evokes similar doubts, you wouldn't have a way to address them. Finding those lingering doubts is often the way to break past that 170 barrier. It's not about things you don't know. It's the small issues left in the things you do know.
@ITTutoring This is so interesting, thank you so much! I'll incorporate this into my study routine!
I don't know if this is exactly the question you're asking, but I do have something that has worked well for me to break from the 160s to the 170s.
I found myself wasting time on questions I wasn't confident on. What really helped me was to quickly rule out answers I was sure were incorrect. Typically, that got me down to 2. I would press the eye/hide button on the ones I ruled out. I would go with whatever answer choice I felt was right, but would always flag the question and move on, rather than sit on it and think on it for too long. With this method, I typically have 3-8 minutes left at the end in which I go back and review those questions. And, I had previously hid the answers I was confident were wrong, so I don't waste time re-reading those. This has helped me a ton, as it allows me to spend more time on the tricky ones.
It is also very important to pick something the first go around, in case you don't have time to get to all your uncertain questions at the end.
Not sure if this will be helpful to you, but it was for me!
Congrats on breaking into the upper 160s! That is awesome, and I have a feeling you'll do great.
@alk2001 I appreciate the advice! I did find myself staying on questions too long and re-reading which was indeed a time killer! I'll try to do more of this!
@Zenaida-Macroura Absolutely!! Best of luck-you've got this!
Firstly, hitting a 168 is awesome! And the fact that you're able to find a pattern in what's going on is a good sign. The hardest part at this point is usually figuring out where you're going wrong.
I was stuck in the same situation when I was in the mid-160s, and what really helped me when I was in between answer choices was asking myself if I could point to the exact reason my original answer is supported, and the exact reason why the other answer was wrong. If I was able to answer both those questions, I kept my answer. If I found something wrong, I changed it. And if neither of those applied, I took the bet and stuck with the original answer. Approaching problems algorithmically eventually took the decision paralysis and the anxiety that comes with that away.
With regards to confidence and question types, really take the time to drill the question types you feel least confident about and talk through your logic. Sometimes, when taking the LSAT, we get so caught up in our heads that we inevitably skip a step in our logic. Talking out loud while drilling will help your brain slow down so that your logic can catch up.
You've absolutely got this! Feel free to reach out with any other questions :)
@sridulasenthil Thank you so much! I'm trying to work on trusting my original thought process! I'll definitely try drilling specific question types more and finding support for my answer choices in the stimulus!